Ballistic macho bravado (with none of the macho baggage)

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2018)

Pacific Rim is a wonderfully straightforward mecha flick with a surprisingly well-realized universe. Del Toro goes way beyond the expected in creating unique, lived-in, awesome locations that could only exist in Pacific Rim's goofy universe. Entire blocks of city were build on hydrolics, within hangers, to give thundering kaiju monsters the heft and vibrational implact they deserve. It makes all the difference to see puddles of water rippling with each stomp, and see buildings shaking.
Beyond the sheer craftsman, I adore how fully this movie embraces its macho bravado. The music is all guitar riffs and swelling fist pumping anthems, the fights scenes are chalk-full of pilots barking orders and fun one-lines. the mechs are these delightfully ugly hunks-a-junks, all pistons and metal plates and dangling wires. It absolutely rules. The cockpits are another thing Del Toro had build in real life, on hydralic pistons, so that the actors could get tossed around and doused with water. Again, it makes all the difference. This movie invites you to enjoy some big dumb apes wail on space dinosaurs with rocket fists. It embraces the absurdity of their universe and goes whole hogg with it.
I also particularly love how, at no point in this movie, does it celebrate what you'd expect from a macho flick - this isn't all about the nobility of men sacrificing themselves to protect women, or about mocking men for emoting or showing weakness. The cast is littered with strong people in desperate situations, trying help each other out and tap into inner motivation, rather than "toughen each other up" with repressive garbage. Characters are shown being weak, being scared, and ultimately, overcoming it all to become who they want. It's a simple message, but lordy am I glad to see it dodge all the pitfalls you'd normally see in a flick like this.
All actors give frankly wonderful performances. I could go into that more, but Perlman, Kikuchi, Eldba, and Day stick out to me as being particularly great. Everyone treats this ridiculous universe with absolute conviction, and it really sells it.
Only negatives I can really point out are the fact that a lot of the battles are in pouring rain, which eh, is not my favorite thing. Also, Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon don't get nearly as much screen time as we all desperately wanted. Maybe they hit that budget wall.
So yeah, absolutely, whole-hearted recommended. This movie is a joy.